Chattanooga, TN – Highlighting private correspondence from almost every major conflict in U.S. History, the new exhibition War Comes Home: The Legacy opens on September 14, 2021, at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center. The traveling exhibition, rich with historic and contemporary letters, offers an intimate perspective into the thoughts and emotions of veterans and their families upon a soldier’s homecoming.
War Comes Home: The Legacy is part of Cal Humanities’ current War Comes Home initiative; a thematic program designed to promote greater understanding of veterans and explore how war shapes a community. The exhibition is based on the work of the Center for American War Letters (CAWL) and is presented by Exhibit Envoy. Andrew Carroll, the Director of CAWL and an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, and John Benitz, Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at Chapman University, co-curated the exhibition.
The exhibition explores the joys and hardships that returning soldiers and their families face during homecoming, as expressed through private letters and email correspondence. Spanning conflicts from the Civil War through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and displayed on thirteen interpretive panels, War Comes Home: The Legacy explores the shared themes of wartime separation, the adjustment to life back at home, and the costs of war.
“We are excited to work with such a prestigious group on this project,” shared Heritage Center Curator Molly Randolph. “The exhibit will also feature significant pieces from our collection to better illustrate the struggles that returning veterans and their families face. These pieces will be windows into a larger experience shared by so many of our men and women in uniform.”
As Staff Sergeant Parker Gyokeres writes, “Those of us coming back…are not looking for sympathy. We might be reluctant at first to talk about what we’ve been through…[but] your support has made this journey an incredible one…Thanks, above all, for listening.”
Additional information is available at mohhc.org/events.
Located in downtown Chattanooga at the Aquarium Plaza, the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center is a 19,000-square-foot facility featuring dynamic exhibits that tell the real-life stories of the Medal of Honor recipients and how they exemplify six common character traits, which represent the highest ideals of our country: Patriotism, Citizenship, Courage, Integrity, Sacrifice and Commitment. Through these incredible stories of bravery and valor, visitors leave with the conviction that they too can be a hero by emulating these values in their daily actions to help make their community a better place.
The National Medal of Honor Heritage Center is open Monday – Saturday 9:00am – 5:00pm, Sunday 10:00am – 3:30pm. For admission rates and tickets please visit MOHHC.org/visit.
For more information on education programs, events, and annual memberships, and Brick of Valor please visit www.mohhc.org or call 423-877-2525.
Exhibition Support
War Comes Home: The Legacy is a partnership between Cal Humanities, the California State Library and Exhibit Envoy. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the BayTree Fund, The Whitman Fund, and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Learn more about Exhibit Envoy at www.exhibitenvoy.org and about Cal Humanities at www.calhum.org.
